Resumen de 'The young king', a new portrait bust by Antico
The writer tentatively identifies a bust of a young man by Antico at Wilton House in Wiltshire, England, as a bust of Hercules. By far the most important of four small bronze busts with silver-inlaid eyes acquired by Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, the bust relates stylistically and conceptually to a small group of portrait busts by Antico, thought to date from late in his career, ca. 1520 onward, and characterized by their introspective, idealizing mood. From the mid 18th century onward, the bust was identified as the Roman Emperor Commodus, but its subject is more likely to be the hero Hercules himself. The writer examines this and the other three such busts at Wilton, and unravels the complex history of the busts following their arrival at the house.
